Conclusion
Strap in, this is going to be a long one. You’d think that after reviewing hardware for so many years that writing a conclusion about something as simple as a CPU would be relatively easy. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong in this case.
The question isn’t about whether the Core i9 10980XE is a good CPU or not. It is. Getting it to work on an older X299 board like the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II was easy due to the BIOS Flashback feature. Thanks again to ASUS for providing us this motherboard to test with so we could make a great review for you all. I never had any problems with crashing or software misbehaving with it or anything like that. That should go without saying, but then I tried to run Destiny 2 on a Ryzen 3000 series CPU prior to its launch and that didn’t work so well.
In the right context, the 10980XE may make a good choice for some of you. It fills specific niches coming in between the high-end mainstream and mid-range of the HEDT market. Performance-wise, it’s complicated, but it does perform well in specific situations. It certainly improves dramatically when overclocked. That’s where the CPU truly shines.
However, managing the heat and power draw could prove challenging depending on how far you push it. At that point, it’s definitely better than the 3900X and 2950X. I don’t know how it will stack up to the 3950X, but I suspect the two may trade blows here and there. I’ll have to explore that later if I can ever get my hands on a 3950X.
Pricing Strategy
Despite the massive price cuts, the Core i9 10980XE is still very expensive. It has AMD’s mainstream nipping at its heels and while it beats the 2nd generation Threadripper’s that have lower core and thread counts, it does face competition from several of AMD’s parts that have 24 cores or more. Because of that, there are a lot of scenarios to consider.
It’s no accident that Intel chose to price the Core i9 10980XE and the rest of the Core X-Series the way it has. At all the available price points, Intel fills the gap between AMD’s mainstream 3900X and 3950X CPU’s while avoiding direct competition with the beefier 3960X and 3970X processors. This is a smart move on Intel’s part, but the sad reality is, you’d probably need the Core i9 10980XE to match the performance of a 3950X, much less beat it.
The 10980XE is more expensive than the 3950X and with the clocks being what they are, (at stock anyway) I’m not sure you could make a good argument for spending the $250 more for two more cores and threads. However, that does get you onto the HEDT platform which has some additional benefits. This is something that will sway some people and that’s fine.
Intel has obviously slashed the price of the 10980XE compared to both of its predecessors. This was an obvious business move because Intel wouldn’t be able to sell the Core i9 10980XE for $2,000 given that it would place it in direct competition with AMD’s third-generation Threadripper CPU’s. Both of which have much higher core and thread counts. They also have similar (if not slightly better) IPC and better base clocks. Intel is realistic and knows where it stands. Right now, it can’t compete at the very $2,000 price point Intel created just a few years ago.